Sunday musings

Why are Sundays so universally uninteresting, wherever you are in the world?
Well, following on from the other day when I wondered about the free sample of incontinence pads in the mailbox, yes we all got them but nobody knows why. None of us admit to needing them right now. Mind you, they're handy for the travel first aid kit to cover a big wound or burn. Just don't tell the patient what they really are!
Well, I've still not had a call from Robin but SPOT keeps me informed. And Bob is now back in San Fran trying to get ready to face the world. It seems there may be one or two logistical SNAFUs that I may have to deal with from afar. Despite certain assurances to the contrary by the guy employed to logisticate, Robin DOES need a permit for where he is going, and of course he doesn't have one. And doesn't know that he needs one. So, I have been sending him SMSs to say be careful, hide in bushes etc but I don't know if he has received the messages. The assistant logistician is trying to get the paperwork to checkpoints etc, but judging on current form I'm none to hopeful of success. My last message to Robin this morning instructed him to press the SEND HELP button on SPOT if he gets arrested by the army or the border police, and I'll get onto someone with BRAINS in Delhi. Like the Embassy. Cos I will know exactly where he is. Just one issue - I don't know whether Robin used his Aussie or Pom passport for India. And I need to know in case of any problem.....
Meanwhile, Katje and Henk made it to Simikot and the weather has taken a turn for the monsoonal. Not good news.
And Nepal has ONCE AGAIN failed to draft a constitution in time. So the 601 erudite members of parliament (oxygen wasting boofheads as you may recall) have given themselves another 3 months to stop arguing and do something. Anything. Nothing. Who cares? Not them. What that country needs is a damn good dictatorship and a few hundred pollies up against the wall.
I went to visit mum today at the hostel and was really impressed with the positive change in her. She seems far less batty (maybe because there are so many totally batso people there) and quite happy and healthy. Which is fantastic.
On the way home stuck in traffic on the M2 I had a good chuckle over a car number plate: SIKRX7. Yes mate, I'm sure your car is FULLY SIK - especially as it was on a tow truck when I saw it. SICK!!
My friend Billi climbed Lhotse the other day, as did Robin's old uni chum Simon, but on Everest north side where Andrew Lock and our friend Jamie are, the weather has taken a turn for the worse so they have been foiled in their attempts by all accounts. Not my idea of a good time.
And finally, article in Wanderlust magazine about the GHT and Brave Sir Robin. Enjoy.
I'm cold - time to shut the doors and do some ironing!

Should I be worried?

Got home from work today, and apart from the usual Target and Franklins catalogues, and highly unwelcome window face envelopes, was a free sample from BrandPower of Tena Lady incontinence pads. What the? Did my 56 year old male neighbour get one? Haven't checked cos it's raining.
Robin is busy pressing SEND on SPOT but I've not talked to him - although it might have been him that called earlier tonight. At least I know he's OK.
Speaking of which, I finally got the bodgy Indian person calling me about a problem with my computer's Microsoft Windows operating system. After I let her rabbit on for a bit - I was busy cooking so couldn't be bothered talking - I said that I didn't have a computer that uses Windows so she would have to call someone else to get some money for her scam.
I'm just enjoying the final of Survivor Redemption Island - all in brawl would be the best way to describe it. I LOVE the final tribal council. Of course Robin dislikes this program so I have enjoyed watching this without his annoying interruptions.
I see the world is going to end on 21 October - pity really. Will the religious whacko be right this time? We shall see....
I note we have a severe weather warning tomorrow with 90 Kph winds - I'd better not wear a skirt and novelty hat to work.
Have a great Wednesday and enjoy the State of Origin if you like that sort of thing.

Here's a baby elephant at Bardia Jungle in Nepal from our trip last year. Hope he makes you smile.

Why wasn't I told?

If I had known earlier that the world is going to end today I wouldn't have done 4 loads of washing, vacuumed and washed the floors and dusted. And I certainly wouldn't have taken a hundredweight of sausages out of the freezer for a barbecue tonight! And why oh why did I pay the bills last week?
I wonder what time it's due to happen - I mean, do I have time to do my hair and fix a cocktail or what?
PANIC STATIONS!

Woo-Hoo Friday!

Another blinder. Work problem? Sorted
Physio? Another session for knees back and shoulders - owww
Friday drinks next door - done
Take away pizzas from Vic's at Summer Hill - you beauty!

Chocolate cake all round

Meanwhile in India, things aren't going so well. Bob has decided to bail out a little early and is heading to Simla and then Delhi to fly to San Fran and his beloved Jeanne. Lucky her - she gets her man back after a couple of months.
It all happened rather quickly, but I gather from the limited telephonic communications I have had that the pilgrim season, food, FLIES, accommodation, logistical issues and the sheer difficulty of everything about this trip have taken their toll on Bob. And fair enough. I want to say now a HUGE THANKS to Bob for having the determination and guts to come along yet again with Robin, to keep him company and be there for him. Having Bob there helped Robin get to where he is now. It means more to me than he can ever know. And thanks to Jeanne for letting him go - I know only too well how hard that is. I hope he takes you out for a great treat when he gets back.

Here's Bob, me and Robin in Sam's in the 'du after their Kanch to Everest trek in 2008. It's easy to tell who was trekking and who was logistics in this shot! It's a tough job but someone's got to do it! And I am so ideally suited - I have a computer, lots of phones and I seem not to need any sleep at all. Of course I could also multitask for Australia at the Olympics.


        Have a safe trip back and huge everlasting hugs mero sati! Om.

And Peter - thanks - it's all under control. Go have a laundry picnic!

Welcome to my nightmare

What a stupid couple of days. Got home yesterday with just enough time to grab the car and drive to physio - parked in by neighbour. No prob, got him to move but because the street is being dug up what used to be a 3 point turn ended up being about 57 in the Landrover. Stuck in traffic but finally got to physio (good thing he was running late!) only to find that when I scanned my health fund card it didn't work. Only just got the flaming thing because my other one didn't scan. Because I didn't have any $$ or credit cards on me I had to leave without paying - what a good look. So tomorrow I'd better take some other form of payment. And for that I pay $97 a month??
Got home, Lakshmi had delivered me a nice mouse that was flying through the air - so I called the neighbour (god love ya Neal) who came to rescue me as I was in Damsel in Distress mode. So there's Neal with a broom trying to corner the mouse while I try to control the struggling cat.  Got that sorted finally, and was just trying to get my dinner, when Robin called me. Since I hadn't heard from him for a week that was kind of exciting, but I was in the middle of 'plating up' as they say on the cooking shows. Meanwhile, somebody was banging on the front door and through the peephole was a very bright light. That'd be Steve from across the road with his stupid Ebay torch. He was delivering a home made muffin and requesting some milk. And Neal came along with him - I don't know why. So I had to hang up on Robin who was mystified about  what the hell was going on at home! By this time my dinner was getting cold but we had to discuss Saturday Rugby plans. PHEW!
Finally got to eat dinner and call Robin back. He was in Gangotri - the origin of the Ganges, and it's pilgrim season. The place was full of Hindu pilgrims and whacky western hippies, and there was no hot water, beer or meat. Depressing. They had a good trek but were very tired, and Auden's Col was not very interesting but they did get so see snow leopard prints.

Trango in Bhutan 2010

Today they were headed for some town or other but got separated from some of their crew, and the driver decided to take them somewhere else. With seriously crap reception. So we spent a frustrating hour trying to call each other - I have a landline, mobile and skype but just couldn't get through and Robin only just managed a few times on his expensive global roaming. I can't report much, but his crew have managed to trash his Trango tent poles and all the jets on the MSR stoves which they assured him they could operate. It constantly surprises me that trekking staff take no care whatsoever with gear. We love the tent and the stoves and to have them trashed (don't ask me how) is seriously annoying.
Add to that I had a very irritating day at work which, to put it mildly, shat me to tears. How ridiculous that I should be sitting at my desk after hours, fuming because of a staff member who can't be bothered to treat people with respect and do their job properly. Still, I'm where the buck stops and I have to deal with it. And fix it. Something to look forward to.

See me later!

Happy Buddha Jyanti

 Buddha's 2555th birthday today. So light a candle for him. And spread a bit of love. Today celebrates 3 great moments in Buddha's life: his birth in 623 BC, his attainment of supreme vision in 588 BC, and his enlightenment (death) at the ripe old age of 80.So it's a bit like Xmas and Easter with something else as well. Turkey and chocolate anyone?

Jambala - Buddhist God of Wealth

Not a whole lot else to report - it's cold here and I still haven't managed to see the 4 planets lined up. Lakshmi the Wonder cat (Hindu Goddess of Wealth) is driving me mad because she keeps pinching the warm spots in the bed. And she never does the housework.
Robin is heading slowly towards Gangotri but there is some unpleasant looking weather headed their way.
I heard from Katje Staartjes and Henk today - they are doing Nepal from west to east. They tried last year but had some bad luck with an injury to Henk so we wish them best of luck for their second attempt. I will keep you posted as I hear from Katje. Today they made it over 3 high passes from Darchula (Nepali side) to Bhajang and plan to be in Yari on 23 May - Katje reports there is a lot of snow around and nobody in Simigaon yet.
Meanwhile on Everest northside Andrew Lock is waiting in basecamp for the right weather for a summit without oxygen. Hope it all goes well for him. He's already done all the 8000ers but this one he really wanted to do without oxygen.
Right well that's enough form me for now.
May peace prevail on earth. Om mani padme hum.

If that was a weekend I had it

Barbecue, drinks and rugby at number 4 on Friday, shopping dinner drinks and rugby at number 4 on Saturday, ALL day clearing mum's place out today. Woo hoo. I really know how to live on the edge. Of reality...
Mum seems to be settling in well at the hostel, and is finally eating decent food - we struggled to get her to eat anything at home. However, she seems to be getting completely mystified by the simplest things - the phone for instance. Di got her one with BIG buttons and a spot to stick mugshots of pre programmed people in (if you get my drift). So we checked it was working this arvo and when Di rang it mum looked at it as though she had never seen a phone before, and for the life of her she couldn't work out how to answer it... And then she was asking me where keys for the balcony door were - Don't know mum I don't live here. Did they give you any keys when you moved in? No idea came the reply. Ok so I start looking for keys - hey mum what are those keys pinned to your trousers? Keys for the house. But mum you don't live there anymore. Oh, don't I? Oh dear.
We were all astounded at the amount of stuff mum had in her small place - so many towels (and beach towels - mum has never been tot the beach in her life!). I have a Landrover full of stuff to give to a refuge or something like that. We've got a washing machine, bed and a whole bunch of furniture to give away, and we all took something that we loved of mum and dad's that mum couldn't take with her. Some of the things we wanted were rather illogical, but there you go. 

1st birthday what a cutie

She hasn't stopped on the phone since.

Probably most exciting of all was our baby photo albums - boy are they from a different age. Pink 'leather' cover with 'Our Baby' emblazoned on the front, with the obligatory stork - come on it was 1959! Inside is a page where the proud parents write the details of baby (size, weight, hair/eye colour etc) and then a squillion pages for pics - wonderful black and white (and some studio portraits) that had to go into photo corners. And each one has the date neatly written in white ink underneath (the pages are black as you old farts would know). I'll have you know that I still have the cabinet in the background of the telephone pic.
Robin is currently somewhere near Shivling - I've not had a phone call from him for a few days but thank goodness for SPOT (who I have nicknamed Roger) so I have a pretty good idea where they are and what's in store for them. Roger manages to send me a ping every day. Pretty useful item.
I am heartily sick of this cold weather - I gave in and got the blanket out to add to the doona and electric blanket so perhaps I won't freeze overnight.
I'm going to enjoy the rest of my very well earned Beer Lao and head to bed.